Monday, 29 May 2017

More Pesky Space Dwarfs

Once again those pesky Forge Fathers got in my face last Friday. With their squeaky little dwarf voices they were whining about some sort of mining rights and it took my brave and resourceful Ganymede/Io Mining Pact Security Forces (GIMP SEC) led by Colonel Fank Phraxus to sort them out.

Another game against Brent at NWA. This time around we elevated the points to 1500 and Brent used a different type of battle group with none of those irritating Iron Ancestors (a mighty tough dwarf inside a mighty tough tin can) but lots of heavy shooting nonetheless.

The table was pretty barren with a few rocky outcrops and a bunch of stuff strewn around the place. I got to use several new pieces of terrain that I put together during the week - The green huts and dark grey things (see below). I suppose they could be venting shafts or some such thing.

This thing looked dangerous.

What was it and what was I going to do about it?

Hiding in plain sight. It didn't work very well.

How it started

My heavy weapons located well back and with good lines of sight took aim, aided by Engineer Support (re-roll to hit)... and missed. Brent activated a squad of squat folk, aimed at my not-very-well-hidden Strider (above) and blew it to pieces. My mortars fired and did nothing at all. Their target - a squad armed with with missile launchers - took aim at a marine section and vaporized them in their entirety.

So far this was not a very auspicious start for GIMP SEC.

What to do? I decided to move fast and use cover.

I managed to minimize further casualties for the time being by doing this and also managed to shoot up some of the Forge Father infantry. I tried to issue some orders but my Order Dice were just as bad as my shooting dice. Things just didn't seem to be going the way I had planned.

Then this thing moved out and became even scarier than it was when it was just sitting there.

Colonel Phraxus look on whit disdain.

But luck was on my side for the first time and I managed to refresh my heavy weapons and get them in place to have a crack at The Thing. I had the first activation in the next turn and opened up with the heavy weapons. Both hit and reduced the thing to molten slag. So it wasn't a bad as I thought. But I'm sure if it had the chance to shoot it would have been nasty for GIMP SEC.

More moving and shooting with my brave lads getting the worst of it. Although I did manage to get some rounds on target and knock down some of those pesky runts.

The Dwarf Commander Moves Up

For some reason the Forge Father decided to lead from the front. I just thought he must be mad but there was a method behind Brent's madness. and it was to call in a squad of heavily armoured, flying short folk on the heads of my mortars, which were doing some decent work on distant targets.

Bugger!

However, the morta's put up a fairly good fight.

But the Dwarf lord was out in the open and the crew of my Mule Transport lined him up...

And drove forward full pelt to ram him into a building. And...

He survived - Wounded, yes, but still standing.

On the other side of the table my infantry were getting smashed. They did manage to take down a couple of enemy units but they couldn't stand against the heavy FF firepower. The Missile Launcher squad who wiped out my marines earlier also took out my transport after I pulled back but they got theirs when my own missile launcher obliterated them, turning them into little piles of stumpy arms and legs. My heavy weapons, in turn, took heavy auto cannon fire and severe casualties.

The mortars managed to hold out with the help of a veteran marine squad. I also managed to bring my new Ranger unit out of reserve (not pictured) and they took out a lone dwarf holding an objective.

In the photo below I advanced my last intact marine squad onto the rocky outcrop and took aim with their Thermal Rifle which was the only weapon capable of penetrating the Forge Father's armour. And penetrate it did. Burning a hole though his heavy armour, his valiant heart, and out the other side.

Thus ended the game.

Somehow, I managed to win. the victory points were 8 to 7 against GIMP SEC but the death of the dwarf commander swung the points: 8 to 9. As it turned out, the majority of my casualties were cheap marine units which helped keep my losses to a manageable level. The Forge Father units, on the other hand tend to be expensive so casualties counted more. I also managed to achieve a couple of secondary objectives which also helped.

All in all, another great game. It moved fast and it's getting easier to remember various rules. All I need to do now is roll better dice.

1 comment:

About Me

I've been a wargamer since the 1970's and I originally started this blog to chart my 28mm sculpting. However, I have since stopped sculpting and this blog has become dedicated to my wargaming hobby.
I play a range of wargames from skirmish sized games through to Big Battalions I started with WWII in the mid 1970's when I also use to play a lot of board games too. Many years of D&D followed and then a long sabbatical. I started wargaming again in the early 2000's and have continued in various forms ever since.